One of Chicago’s most anticipated building projects of the last 50 years is now officially underway. Formal groundbreaking ceremonies were held today for Wolf Point West, the first of three skyscrapers in the billion-dollar Wolf Point development at the confluence of the Chicago River’s main channel and North Branch. As we’ve documented here over the last few...

Winter was rough, and summer isn’t starting out all that nice, either, for Chicago. Last night’s wild storms dumped huge amounts of rain on the city and its primary means of drainage: The Chicago River. One of our downtown spies sent in this photo taken this morning (July 1, 2014). You can see the construction pits at Wolf Point are flooded, the Chicago River has...

One of Chicago’s most anticipated building projects of the last 50 years is now officially underway. Formal groundbreaking ceremonies were held today for Wolf Point West, the first of three skyscrapers in the billion-dollar Wolf Point development at the confluence of the Chicago River’s main channel and North Branch. As we’ve documented here over the last few months, construction is already well underway. But...

Winter was rough, and summer isn’t starting out all that nice, either, for Chicago. Last night’s wild storms dumped huge amounts of rain on the city and its primary means of drainage: The Chicago River. One of our downtown spies sent in this photo taken this morning (July 1, 2014). You can see the construction pits at Wolf Point are flooded, the Chicago River has risen all the way up to the construction fencing,...

All across the city it seems like projects that were mothballed in 2008 and 2009 are coming back from the dead. Whether it’s a sign of economic recovery, or simply the fact that city development permission expires after six years is academic. The point is that Chicago’s zombie projects are thrusting their tattered, bony arms through the topsoil and reaching for sunlight once again. The latest is in the River North...

The River North side of LaSalle Street is where it’s at these days. Less than a week after a public meeting was held for two new residential towers proposed for 720 North LaSalle Street and 167 East Erie, another residential building is on offer. Word about the 11-story building being developed by Akara Partners became public in an e-mail from 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly’s office. 707 North Wells will have 51 residences over two...

A pair of River North residential high-rise developments received positive feedback from locals at the official coming-out party on Monday evening. Magellan Development presented plans for both buildings—a 39-story tower at 167 West Erie Street and a 38-story tower at 720 North LaSalle Street. The height would have thrown my West Loop neighbors into a state of apoplexy, but for River North folks, a 400-foot-tall building is probably...

There are special milestones you look for in a child’s development: Baby’s first word. Baby’s first steps. Baby’s first car wreck after taking the keys out of daddy’s pants without permission. Wolf Point is about to reach one of those milestones. That’s because the first bits of the crane for the west tower are now being installed. It’s the equivalent of a baby learning to sit up on its...

Another crane may rise along the LaSalle Street corridor soon, and River North may lose another unofficial landmark. Just two blocks south of where Magellan Development wants to put up a 38-story residential tower to replace the Howard Johnson’s, it wants to put up a 39-story residential tower to replace the former Gino’s East pizzeria and Mitchell’s soda shop. Early this year, Gino’s moved down the street to...

It’s always good to put a face with a name. Over a month ago, when we first told you about the skyscraper proposed to replace the Googie-riffic Howard Johnson’s motor lodge at 720 North LaSalle in downtown Chicago, we showed you an isometric diagram, lots of drawings, and a passel of statistics. Now we have a rendering to go with the sketches. Behold: The design by friends-of-the-blue, bKL Architecture, shows clean...

Another piece of the former Montgomery Ward complex in River North is going to be redeveloped. Over the Easter weekend, 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly e-mailed his constituents letting them know about a residential tower called The Hudson proposed for 750 North Hudson Avenue. The message was a little short on details, but we did a little digging and know a few things. This is the northern half of the block just east of the former...

If you read any of our three, count’em—three, social media channels earlier today, then you were promised more information on the new residential skyscraper proposed for 720 North LaSalle Street. Or as we’re going to call it for now— The HoJo Tower. We call it that because it doesn’t currently have a better public name, and because if built, it will replace the Howard Johnson motor lodge in the heart of downtown...